A Twitter employee groomed by the Saudi government prompted 2015 state-sponsored hacking warning

An explosive report in The New York Times this weekend sheds new light on the apparent targeting of Twitter accounts by “state-sponsored actors” three years ago.

It comes in the wake of the confirmed death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Friday, two weeks after he disappeared in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi had long been a target of a Saudi troll army, according to the report, which employed hundreds of people to stifle the speech of government critics, like Khashoggi, who left the kingdom to live and work in the United States.

But the troll farm is said to be one part of a wider scheme by the Saudi leadership to surveil critics and dissidents.

According to the report, Western intelligence officials told Twitter that one of its employees, a Saudi national, was asked by the Saudi government to spy on the accounts of dissidents. The employee — an engineer — had access to account data on Twitter users, including phone numbers and IP addresses. Saudi officials are said to have convinced him to snoop on several accounts. Twitter fired the employee, despite finding no evidence that he handed data over to the Saudi government. The employee later returned to the kingdom and now works for its government.

After the dismissal, the Times reports, Twitter sent out warnings a few dozen users that their accounts “may have been targeted by state-sponsored actors.”

“As a precaution, we are alerting you that your Twitter account is one of a small group of accounts that may have been targeted by state-sponsored actors,” said Twitter in the email to affected users. “We believe that these actors (possibly associated with a government) may have been trying to obtain information such as email addresses, IP addresses, and/or phone numbers.”

Twitter didn’t say at the time what was the cause of the email warning, leading some to question what linked the affected accounts.

Around 20 users were affected, including privacy and security researcher Runa Sandvik, human rights activist Michael Carbone, and Austrian communications expert Marco Schreuder.

Several of the affected users also worked for the Tor Project, a non-profit that allows activists and researchers to browse the web anonymously — often to bypass state-level censorship and surveillance.

Facebook and Google also have similar alerts in place in the event of suspected state-sponsored attacks or hacking, though often the companies send out alerts out of an abundance of caution — rather than a solid indicator that an account has been breached.

When reached, a Twitter spokesperson declined to comment.

Read Full Article

Gearing up to step into virtual reality

Makula Dunbar Contributor

Makula Dunbar is a writer with Wirecutter.

More posts by this contributor

• 5 apps and services for productivity and wellness
• The best gear for starting a small business

Editor’s note: This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and TechCrunch may earn affiliate commissions.

For the past two years, we’ve been closely following the advances of new VR experiences. Much of this gear is still in development, but if you’re eager to dive in and get a sense of what’s available right now, we’ve put together our current recommendations for mobile, PC, console and budget VR headsets.

The Oculus Go is light enough to wear comfortably, but it’s still a bit front-heavy. (Photo: Signe Brewster)                          

Standalone Headset: Oculus Go

The Oculus Go is a standalone headset  that doesn’t require a PC, game console or mobile phone to run. The Go comes with a sharp built-in screen and a comfortable controller that convincingly puts your hand in whatever virtual world you’re exploring. It’s compatible with Oculus games and shares the Stream VR app library with the Samsung Gear VR, so there are enough games to keep you busy for hours.

You can also watch movies and TV via streaming services. Its straps fit around the sides and over the top of your head and it’s light enough that you’ll forget you’re wearing it. Although its field of view is wider and its lenses are better than Gear VR’s, its screen resolution is lower. While you can move your head from left to right, up and down, and forward and backwards, your view won’t change when you tilt your head.

For what it currently offers, we think the Oculus Go is bit pricey, and some people might want to wait for the Oculus Quest next year. But the Go’s hardware is impressive and it’s the best overall standalone headset for most people right now.

Photo: Signe Brewster

VR Headset for PC: Oculus Rift + Touch

Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned gamer, the Oculus Rift + Touch VR headset for PC provides an enjoyable experience that’s easy to navigate and deeply immersive. The Rift + Touch has three cords, one that’s tethered to your PC — which gives the system more processing power — and two that are connected to its included sensors. It’s the most comfortable headset we tested, fitting to wear over long periods of time, and easy to set up. Playing games with it calls for a bit of space; Rift recommends at least a 5-by-5 box.

We found that gameplay in a larger area (a 5-by-11 space) is even better. You’ll be able to interact within and see different parts of virtual worlds through head movements and by stepping from side to side. We like that its controllers are balanced and that the system comes with its own set of headphones. Like the Oculus Go, the Rift + Touch can be used with Oculus and Stream VR games.

Photo: Signe Brewster                                                                                                                                                   

PS4 Headset: Sony PlayStation VR Bundle

If you already own a PlayStation 4 and want to give virtual reality a try, we recommend doing so with the Sony PlayStation VR. This system’s tracking isn’t as powerful as a high-end PC’s, but it still offers an incredibly immersive experience. Tracked by the PlayStation VR camera, the Move controllers are responsive and one of the system’s best features.

The bundle we recommend comes with two Move controllers, a camera, and the Skyrim VR game — it’s important to note that PlayStation VR bundles are frequently discontinued and the only difference in the newer versions have been the featured game. Unlike our VR headset for PC picks, PlayStation VR does not have separate screens for each eye and it has a higher refresh rate for a high-quality visual experience. The headset fits more like a hard hat as opposed to goggles, but it’s one of the most comfortable headsets we tested.

Photo: Signe Brewster

Mobile Headset: Samsung Gear VR

Samsung Gear VR is the best VR headset made for a phone — but it’s only compatible with Samsung Galaxy and Note smartphones. It can be used with a broad variety of apps and games, and overall offers the best mobile VR experience. We like its UI and that there’s more to explore within its app ecosystem than with than with our runner-up pick, the Google Daydream View.

Its headset has adjustable straps, comfortable padding and a lens adjustment dial. The Gear VR’s controller is intuitive, easy to hold and connects to your phone over Bluetooth. Instead of tracking every hand movement, the remote is primarily limited to pointing and clicking, but its trigger button and trackpad feel natural and still give you a sense of immersion. It’s a bit heavier to wear than other mobile VR headsets we tested, but it fits better to the face for some and is more secure.

Aside from puzzle, shooting and adventure titles, you can download any Oculus games you already own and play them with the Gear VR for free. If you don’t own one of Samsung’s flagship phones, we recommend the Google Daydream View, or the standalone Oculus Go.

Photo: Signe Brewster

Budget VR & AR Headset: Merge VR/AR Goggles

If you don’t need the absolute best experience and want an inexpensive way to try VR for the first time, Merge VR/AR Goggles for Google Cardboard is the best offering. Compared to the other six budget headsets we tested, we preferred its combination of adjustability, price and comfort. It’s an upgrade from Cardboard and is still compatible with Google’s ecosystem of apps.

We like that it doubles as an augmented reality headset that can be paired with the Merge Cube and Merge’s curated VR library. You can play games, go on virtual expeditions, and watch films with the Merge VR/AR Goggles. It works with more phones (including iPhones). But that makes the quality feel a bit lower than experiences tailored for specific mobile systems. So long as you have a smartphone with a large screen and high resolution you’ll get a decent introductory VR experience.

These picks may have been updated by Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and TechCrunch may earn affiliate commissions.

Read Full Article

5 Printable Productivity Planners and Templates to Get Things Done

Technology is great, but sometimes you need the feel of pen on paper. These printable planners and sheets will help you get things done without needing an app or computer.

There is a simplicity to printable planners that apps can’t match. These are more flexible, and they don’t send you notifications that distract you from what needs to be done. Plus, there is no learning involved. Print out the planner, fill in the blanks, and you’re ready.

Paulina’s Daily Planner: Plan Your Day, and Stay Healthy Too

Graphic designer Paulina has created her own daily planner that you can download and print. While it’s a daily planner, it also does a few more things to ensure you’re at your best.

Fill in today’s date and write down up to eight tasks to finish for the day. You can add a few notes too. After the planning, it’s important to ensure you stay healthy. So Paulina’s planner ensures you have a checklist for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, to make sure you don’t skip meals. There are also seven glasses of hydration to remember to drink water. And the exercise tab has different ways to stay fit.

At the end of the day, you can also use the planner to analyze how you’ve done. Fill a couple of simple boxes to know how many tasks are completed and overdue. And then choose whether overall, you think it’s a productive day or not.

The planner prints in an A5 size, so a standard A4 or Letter page will give you two planners per page. It’s free, but you can also buy a pack of three, each with 50 sheets in spiral binding.

Productivity Meter: Visual, Colorful Measure of Achievements

Usually, printable planners are just about putting pen on paper to fill in the blanks. That’s why The Petite Planner’s Productivity Meter stands out from the rest with its colorful and visual approach to planning.

Here’s how it works. You download the template for the meter, either in horizontal or vertical format. Each meter is about one large goal, with several small tasks. Each type of task has its own color. Divide the meter into small sections for each color. Outside the meter, write timeframes or deadlines. You fill up the meter with a color whenever you finish the task. It’ll take some getting used to, but once you do it, this visual task list will be much more satisfying than checking off a box on a piece of paper.

The Productivity Meter has a similar mind hack as the “Done List” as they both rely on telling you how much you have achieved in any task, rather than how much is left to do. As the meter fills up, you’ll get a sense of accomplishment and know what to tackle next.

Quarterly Review: Take Stock of Your Goals and Learnings

It’s easy to say that you should take stock of your life and figure out the next steps. But how do you go about doing that? The Quarterly Review printable sheet is an excellent guide that puts this abstract question into a series of actionable steps.

As the name suggests, it’s ideal if you do this every quarter, i.e. three months or 90 days. You’ll need to sign up to get the printable and its sheet of questions, which is the more important part.

The printable plots your last and next quarters side-by-side. A series of questions takes you through what to fill in the last quarter, such as what went well (with sub-questions), what could have been better (with sub-questions), what was unexpected, how you feel about the quarter, and which learnings can you take forward to the next.

The next quarter’s section has similar questions to fill out on the chart. For example, you start with how you want to feel at the end of the next quarter, which actions you need to complete, what are the main goals or priorities, and so on. It also forces you to set one goal for something that would affect your life in a meaningful way.

Through this series of questions and answers, you’ll be able to get a realistic picture of how your life has been and where you want your life to go. Keep doing this Quarterly Review every three months, it’s the best way to keep moving forward while improving on your mistakes. In fact, you can even do it as a team, as this is an essential printable planner for office workers.

Simplified’s Printables: 40 Free Printables for Every Need

Lifestyle author Emily Ley’s website Simplified has a bunch of free printable planners for every type of need. You will have to sign up for the newsletter to download them, but the collection is worth it.

The variety of printables on offer is staggering. You get daily, weekly, and monthly calendars and planners. There are “brain dump” templates, blog planners, meetings for office and family, party planners, and checklists for all kinds of occasions. And of course, there’s the productivity staple, a gratitude journal template.

Each of these is a single-page productivity planner, and you can distinguish between categories based on the background color. Most of them also have a color element on the page, but it’s only to make it look better, you can still use it with a black-and-white printer.

2019 Printable Planner: Better Than a Calendar for the New Year

We aren’t too far from the new year, so let’s prep for it with a planner made for 2019. Make Your Own Zone’s free printable will make you realize why we still need paper planners in the smartphone age.

The planner is available in two options: with the week starting on Monday or starting on Sunday. The Monday-start is a better option, since it gives you more room for the weekdays, which is when you would be getting more things done. For something that requires attention throughout the week, use the “Notes” box at the bottom.

There are vertical and horizontal layouts available for the planner, so pick what you prefer. The vertical looks better to us, since you can use it as a simple to-do list or even add a few notes from the bottom-up.

The website also includes links to the 2018 version of the planner, in case you want to get started right away without waiting till the new year rolls around.

Try Other Planners

The thing with to-do lists, planners, and other productivity methods is that nothing is a one-size-fits-all solution. Different techniques work for different people, which is why it’s important to identify the right planner for you and print it out.

For example, if time management is your big problem, then try a time-blocking printable planner. These planners give you time-based goals for your tasks, helping you get things done before deadlines.

Read the full article: 5 Printable Productivity Planners and Templates to Get Things Done

Read Full Article

Smart home makers hoard your data, but won’t say if the police come for it

A decade ago, it was almost inconceivable that nearly every household item could be hooked up to the internet. These days, it’s near impossible to avoid a non-smart home gadget, and they’re vacuuming up a ton of new data that we’d never normally think about.

Thermostats know the temperature of your house, and smart cameras and sensors know when someone’s walking around your home. Smart assistants know what you’re asking for, and smart doorbells know who’s coming and going. And thanks to the cloud, that data is available to you from anywhere — you can check in on your pets from your phone or make sure your robot vacuum cleaned the house.

Because the data is stored or accessible by the smart home tech makers, law enforcement and government agencies have increasingly sought data from the companies to solve crimes.

And device makers won’t say if your smart home gadgets have been used to spy on you.

For years, tech companies have published transparency reports — a semi-regular disclosure of the number of demands or requests a company gets from the government for user data. Google was first in 2010. Other tech companies followed in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations that the government had enlisted tech companies’ aid in spying on their users. Even telcos, implicated in wiretapping and turning over Americans’ phone records, began to publish their figures to try to rebuild their reputations.

As the smart home revolution began to thrive, police saw new opportunities to obtain data where they hadn’t before. Police sought Echo data from Amazon to help solve a murder. Fitbit data was used to charge a 90-year old man with the murder of his stepdaughter. And recently, Nest was compelled to turn over surveillance footage that led to gang members pleading guilty to identity theft.

Yet, Nest — a division of Google — is the only major smart home device maker that has published how many data demands it receives.

As first noted by Forbes last week, Nest’s little-known transparency report doesn’t reveal much — only that it’s turned over user data about 300 times since mid-2015 on over 500 Nest users. Nest also said it hasn’t to date received a secret order for user data on national security grounds, such as in cases of investigating terrorism or espionage. Nest’s transparency report is woefully vague compared to some of the more detailed reports by Apple, Google and Microsoft, which break out their data requests by lawful request, by region and often by the kind of data the government demands.

As Forbes said, “a smart home is a surveilled home.” But at what scale?

We asked some of the most well-known smart home makers on the market if they plan to release a transparency report, or disclose the number of demands they receive for data from their smart home devices.

For the most part, we received fairly dismal responses.

What the big four tech giants said

Amazon did not respond to requests for comment when asked if it will break out the number of demands it receives for Echo data, but a spokesperson told me last year that while its reports include Echo data, it would not break out those figures.

Facebook said that its transparency report section will include “any requests related to Portal,” its new hardware screen with a camera and a microphone. Although the device is new, a spokesperson did not comment on if the company will break out the hardware figures separately.

Google pointed us to Nest’s transparency report but did not comment on its own efforts in the hardware space — notably its Google Home products.

And Apple said that there’s no need to break out its smart home figures — such as its HomePod — because there would be nothing to report. The company said user requests made to HomePod are given a random identifier that cannot be tied to a person.

What the smaller but notable smart home players said

August, a smart lock maker, said it “does not currently have a transparency report and we have never received any National Security Letters or orders for user content or non-content information under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA),” but did not comment on the number of subpoenas, warrants and court orders it receives. “August does comply with all laws and when faced with a court order or warrant, we always analyze the request before responding,” a spokesperson said.

Roomba maker iRobot said it “has not received any demands from governments for customer data,” but wouldn’t say if it planned to issue a transparency report in the future.

Both Arlo, the former Netgear smart home division, and Signify, formerly Philips Lighting, said they do not have transparency reports. Arlo didn’t comment on its future plans, and Signify said it has no plans to publish one. 

Ring, a smart doorbell and security device maker, did not answer our questions on why it doesn’t have a transparency report, but said it “will not release user information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us” and that Ring “objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course.” When pressed, a spokesperson said it plans to release a transparency report in the future, but did not say when.

Spokespeople for Honeywell and Canary — both of which have smart home security products — did not comment by our deadline.

And, Samsung, a maker of smart sensors, trackers and internet-connected televisions and other appliances, did not respond to a request for comment.

Only Ecobee, a maker of smart switches and sensors, said it plans to publish its first transparency report “at the end of 2018.” A spokesperson confirmed that, “prior to 2018, Ecobee had not been requested nor required to disclose any data to government entities.”

All in all, that paints a fairly dire picture for anyone thinking that when the gadgets in your home aren’t working for you, they could be helping the government.

As helpful and useful as smart home gadgets can be, few fully understand the breadth of data that the devices collect — even when we’re not using them. Your smart TV may not have a camera to spy on you, but it knows what you’ve watched and when — which police used to secure a conviction of a sex offender. Even data from when a murder suspect pushed the button on his home alarm key fob was enough to help convict someone of murder.

Two years ago, former U.S. director of national intelligence James Clapper said the government was looking at smart home devices as a new foothold for intelligence agencies to conduct surveillance. And it’s only going to become more common as the number of internet-connected devices spread. Gartner said more than 20 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2020.

As much as the chances are that the government is spying on you through your internet-connected camera in your living room or your thermostat are slim — it’s naive to think that it can’t.

But the smart home makers wouldn’t want you to know that. At least, most of them.

‘Five Eyes’ governments call on tech giants to build encryption backdoors — or else

Read Full Article

Alumni Ventures Group is the most active venture fund you’ve never heard of

Alumni Ventures Group’s (AVG) limited partners aren’t endowment or pension funds. Its typical LP is a heart surgeon in Des Moines, Iowa.

The firm has both an unorthodox model of fundraising and dealmaking. Across 25 micro funds, AVG is raising and investing upwards of $200 million per year for and in tech startups.

Tucked away in Boston, far from the limelight of Silicon Valley, few seem to be paying attention to AVG. There are a few reasons why, and those seem to be working to the firm’s advantage.

Today, AVG is announcing a close of roughly $30 million for three additional funds: Green D Ventures, Chestnut Street Ventures and Purple Arch Ventures, which represent capital committed by Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern alums, respectively.

“People don’t really know what to make of us”

AVG walks and talks like a venture fund, but a peek under the hood reveals its unconventional fundraising mechanisms.

Rather than collecting $5 million minimum investments from institutional LPs, AVG takes $50,000 directly from individual alums of prestigious universities. The firm pools the capital and creates university-specific venture funds for graduates of Duke, Stanford, Harvard, MIT and several other colleges. 

“People don’t really know what to make of us because we’re so different,” said Michael Collins, AVG’s founder and chief executive officer.

Collins started AVG to make venture capital more accessible to individual people. He’s been a VC since 1986, formerly of TA Associates, and had grown tired of the hubris that runs rampant in the industry. In 2014, he started a $1.5 million fund for alums of his alma mater, Dartmouth. Since then, AVG has grown into 25 funds, each of which fundraise annually and are seeing substantial growth over their previous raises.

“What we observed is VC is a really good asset class but it’s really designed for institutional investors,” Collins (pictured below) said. “It’s really hard for individual people to put together a smart, simple portfolio unless they do it themselves. That’s why we created AVG.”

AVG and its team of 40 investment professionals make 150 to 200 investments per year of roughly $1 million each in U.S. startups across industries. In the second quarter of 2018, PitchBook listed the firm as the second most active global investor, ranked below only Plug and Play Tech Center and above the likes of Kleiner Perkins, NEA and Accel. 

Unlike the Kleiners, NEAs and Accels of the world, AVG never leads investments. Collins says they just “tuck themselves into” a deal with a great lead investor. They don’t take board seats; Collins says he doesn’t see any value in more than one VC on a company board. And they don’t try to negotiate deal terms.

Though unusual, all of this works to their advantage. Founders appreciate the easy capital and access to AVG’s network, and other VC firms don’t view AVG as a threat, making it easier for the firm to get in on great deals.

“We are low friction, we are small and we have a hell of a Rolodex,” Collins said.

VC doesn’t have to be a star business

Despite a deal flow that’s unmatched by many VC firms, AVG manages to fly under the radar — and the firm is totally OK with that.

“A lot of VC is a bit of a star business where people try to build their own individual brand,” Collins said. “They get out there; they like publicity; they blog; they speak at conferences; they want to be known as the person to bring great deals to. We don’t lead. We work in the background. We just don’t feel the need to put the energy into PR.”

“Most VC returns are really achieved through investing in great companies as opposed to changing the trajectory of a company because you’re on the board,” he added. “If you’re a seed investor in Airbnb or Google, you were really great to be an early investor in that company, not because you sat on the board and you’re brilliance created Google’s success.”

AVG has completed 115 investments in the last 12 months. It’s investing out of 10-year funds, so at just four years in, it has some more waiting to do before it’ll see the full outcomes of its investments. Still, Collins says 65 of their portfolio companies have had liquidity events so far, including Jump, which sold to Uber in April, and Whistle, acquired by Mars Petcare a few years back.

“I hope that we can be a catalyst to bring more people into this asset class,” he concluded.

“I am a big believer that it’s really important that America continues to lead in entrepreneurship and I think the more people that own this asset class the better.”

Base10’s debut fund is the largest ever for a Black-led VC firm

Read Full Article

The 4 Best Budget Gaming Headsets for Under $25

How to Password Protect and Encrypt a Flash Drive: 5 Easy Methods

An encrypted USB flash drive is the safest way to carry sensitive files.

Unfortunately, you cannot password protect your entire USB flash drive, like you can password protect your PC or phone. Secure tools all work with encryption. Unless you want to invest in an encrypted flash drive with hardware encryption, you can use freeware applications to achieve a similar level of USB protection.

This article summarizes the easiest ways to password protect or encrypt files and folders on a USB flash drive.

1. Rohos Mini Drive: Create an Encrypted Partition

Many tools can encrypt and password protect your data. Most, however, require Administrator rights to run on any given computer. Rohos Mini Drive, however, works whether or not you possess Administrator rights on the target computer.

The free edition can create a hidden, encrypted, and password-protected partition of up to 8 GB on your USB flash drive. The tool uses automatic on-the-fly encryption with AES 256-bit key length. Thanks to the portable Rohos Disk Browser, which you install directly to your flash drive, you won’t need encryption drivers on the local system. Subsequently, you can access the protected data anywhere.

Click Encrypt USB drive from the Rohos Mini Drive start screen, select the drive, specify a new password, and click Create disk. This will create a password-protected and encrypted container on your external drive.

You can open the protected container by clicking the Rohos Mini.exe icon from the root folder of your USB thumb drive. After entering the password, the Rohos disk will mount as a separate drive and you can access it via File Explorer. To close your Rohos partition, right-click the Rohos icon in the Windows Taskbar notification area and select Disconnect.

Download: Rohos Mini Drive

2. VeraCrypt: Encrypt Your Entire Flash Drive

VeraCrypt is the successor of TrueCrypt. It comes as a portable app that runs directly from your flash drive. VeryCrypt does require Administrator rights to operate. It uses on-the-fly AES 256-bit encryption. The free version is limited to drive sizes of 2 GB.

VeraCrypt features on-the-fly encryption using multiple different encryption algorithms, including 256-bit AES, Serpent, and TwoFish, as well as combinations of these. Like Rohos Mini Drive, it can create a virtual encrypted disk that mounts like a real disk, but you can also encrypt entire partitions or storage devices.

Download VeryCrypt Portable and install it on your USB drive. When you launch the portable app, it will show you all available drive letters. Choose one and click Create Volume. This will launch the VeraCrypt Volume Creation Wizard.

To encrypt your entire USB flash drive, select Encrypt a non-system partition/drive and click Next.

In the next step, you can choose from a Standard or a Hidden VeraCrypt volume. Using a hidden volume reduces the risk that someone forces you to reveal your password. Note that you’ll have to format the entire USB drive if you want to create a Hidden VeraCrypt volume.

We’ll proceed with the Standard VeraCrypt volume. In the next window, click Select Device…, choose your removable disk, confirm with OK, and click Next.

To encrypt the entire USB drive, select Encrypt partition in place and click Next. VeryCrypt will warn you that you should have a backup of the data, in case something goes wrong during encryption. Now select the Encryption and Hash Algorithm; you can go with the default settings. Now you get to set your Volume Password. In the next step, your random mouse movements will determine the cryptographic strength of the encryption.

Now choose your Wipe Mode, the more wipes, the safer. In the final window, click Encrypt to start the encryption.

Download: VeraCrypt Portable

Note: An alternative to VeraCrypt Portable is Toucan, a portable app that lets you sync, backup, and secure your files. If you’re using Windows 10 Professional, Business, or Enterprise, you can also use BitLocker to encrypt your drives.

3. SecurStick: Create a Safe Zone on Your USB Drive

This tool is a product of the German computer magazine c’t. It does not require installation and will work with Windows, Linux, and Mac without Admin rights. To set it up, however, you have to run an EXE file from the flash drive you wish to encrypt.

To set up SecurStick, download and unpack the ZIP archive, then copy the EXE file onto your USB stick. Running the EXE file will launch a command prompt and browser window. Enter a password and click Create to install the Safe Zone.

Next time you launch the SecurStick EXE file, you’ll hit a login window. Logging in mounts the Safe Zone. Any files you copy into the SafeZone are automatically encrypted. Note that closing the command prompt window will close your Safe Zone session.

The easiest way to completely remove SecurStick from your flash drive is to format the drive.

Download: SecurStick

Note: Don’t be put off by the German download page! The tool’s interface was fully ported to English, as shown above.

4. How to Encrypt Your Flash Drive on a Mac

If you’re using a Mac, you don’t need a third-party tool to encrypt your USB flash drive.

First, you need to format the flash drive with Apple’s HFS+ file system. Note that this will delete all files stored on it, meaning you should back them up. From the Disk Utility app, pick your flash drive and click Erase. In the popup window, specify the file format, MacOS Extended (Journaled), and click Erase in the bottom right to format the drive.

Now you’re ready to create an encrypted flash drive. Simply right-click the drive in Finder, select Encrypt, and add a password. The process starts instantly and can take a few minutes, depending on the size of your USB stick. Shortly, you’ll have an encrypted and password protected USB drive.

5. Cryptsetup: Encrypt Your USB Drive on Linux

Cryptsetup is a free function to set up cryptographic volumes using AES 256-bit encryption. It’s available from the standard Linux repository.

Note: You should not use this tool if you intend on using the encrypted files outside of Linux. Moreover, accessing your encrypted flash drive requires a Cryptsetup installation.

To encrypt your USB stick on Linux, you need to install both the Gnome disk utility and Cryptsetup from sudo apt-get. If you’re using Ubuntu, it should already be installed. Next, launch Disks from the desktop, look for your flash drive, and select to format the drive or a single partition with the encryption option. At this point, you’ll also choose a password. Note that you have to overwrite all existing files.

Reference: Cryptsetup

If you use Ubuntu Linux, please refer to our complete file and folder encryption guide.

How to Save Individual Files With a Password

As mentioned above, you can’t safely password protect your entire USB stick without using encryption. However, if you shy away from the time-consuming encryption process for entire folders and need a really quick way to only protect a few selected files, you can simply save those with a USB password.

Many programs, including Word and Excel, allow you to save files with a password.

For example, in Word, while the document is open, go to File > Info, expand the Protect Document menu, and select Encrypt with Password.

Now enter your password and confirm it to protect your document.

Finally, save your document and don’t forget the password.

To password protect PDF files on your USB flash drive, you can use PDFTK Builder, which also comes as a portable app.

How to Create a Password-Protected File Archive

Archive tools like 7-Zip can also encrypt and password protect your files with AES-256.

Install and run 7-Zip, right-click the file or folder on your USB drive, and select 7-Zip > Add to Archive. In the Add to Archive window, choose the Archive format and add a password. Click OK to start the archiving and encryption process.

Download: 7-Zip

Your Personal Files, Protected and Encrypted

Now you know how to password protect and encrypt your USB drive on Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can also protect Windows folders. And have you encrypted your smartphone data yet? If you have a few spare USB sticks, you could do something useful with them!

Read the full article: How to Password Protect and Encrypt a Flash Drive: 5 Easy Methods

Read Full Article

How to Recover Accidentally Deleted WhatsApp Messages

The 6 Best Websites to Learn How to Hack Like a Pro

Want to learn how to hack? Hacking isn’t a single subject that anyone can pick up overnight. If you want to hack like a pro, you won’t be able to read just one article and visit a few hacking websites.

But if you spend a lot of time studying and practicing your craft, you can learn to hack.

White Hat vs. Black Hat Hacking

There are two forms of hacking: “white hat” and “black hat“.

White hat hackers call themselves ethical hackers, in that they find vulnerabilities in an effort to make systems and applications more secure.

However, there’s a whole other community of hackers—black hat hackers—who find vulnerabilities only to exploit them as much as possible.

Now that you know what sort of community you may be entering, let’s get on with the list of top sites where you can learn to hack.

1. Hacking Tutorial

At Hacking Tutorial, you’ll find a list of resources that’ll teach you some in-depth tricks to hacking various apps, operating systems, and devices.

Some examples of the content you’ll find here include:

• Articles like, “3 Steps GMail MITM Hacking Using Bettercap”
• Tutorials like, “How to Bypass Windows AppLocker”
• Hacking news
• Phone hacking tips
• Reviews of online hacking tools
• A significant library of free hacking eBooks and reports

The articles are usually short, and the grammar isn’t always perfect. However many include highly technical, step-by-step instructions on how to do the task at hand.

The tricks and scripts work unless the exploit has been patched. You may have to dig through some non-hacking articles. But for the volume of technical tricks and resources you’ll find there it’s deserving of a mention.

2. Hack a Day

Hackaday is a blog made for engineers. It’s less about hacking with code, and more about hacking just about anything.

Posts include innovative projects including robotic builds, modifying vintage electronics and gadgets, and much more.

Over the years, Hack A Day has transformed the site into a fairly popular blog.

They also have another domain called hackaday.io, where they host reader-submitted engineering projects. These include some really cool projects and innovative designs.

This site redefines the meaning of the word hacking by helping you learn how to hack electronic devices like a Gameboy or a digital camera and completely modifying it.

The encourage readers to building electronics for the sole purpose of hacking other commercial devices. They also host an annual Hackaday Prize competition. This is where thousands of hardware hackers compete to win the ultimate prize for the best build of the year.

3. Hack In The Box

Hack In The Box has really changed significantly over the years. The site is actually made up of four major subdomains, each with a specific purpose meant to serve hackers around the world.

The site remains focused on security and ethical hacking. The news and magazine sections showcase frequently updated content specifically for hackers or those learning to hack.

The four major sections of the site include:

• HITBSecNews: This popular blog provides security news covering every major industry. Major topics include major platforms like Microsoft, Apple, and Linux. Other topics include international hacking news, science and technology, and even law.
• HITBSecConf: This is an annual conference drawing in hacking professionals and researchers from around the word. It’s held every year in the Netherlands.
• HITBPhotos: A simple collection of photo albums, mostly covering images from the yearly conference.
• HITBMagazine: This page highlights the quarterly print magazine that Hack In The Box used to send out to subscribers until 2014. Even though the blog section of the site is still active and frequently updated, no additional print magazines are being produced.

This site is less of a place to go for actually technical hacking tips, and more of a daily spot to get your latest fix of online hacking news.

HITB is a great resource for news for anyone interested in the latest gossip throughout the international hacking community.

4. Hack This Site!

Hack This Site.org is one of the coolest, free programmer training sites where you can learn how to hack. Just accept one of the challenges along the left navigation pane of the main page.

The site designers offer various “missions”. This is where you need to figure out the vulnerability of a site and then attempt to use your new-found hacking skills (you’ve carefully studied all of the articles on the site, right?) to hack the web page.

Missions include Basic, Realistic, Application, Programming and many others.

If you’re able to figure out how to properly hack any of the most difficult missions on this site, then you’ve definitely earned the title of “hacker”.

5. Cybrary

If you’re looking to kick start a career in white-hat cybersecurity, Cybrary is a great resource. Here, you’ll find hundreds of free courses covering areas like Microsoft Server security, doing security assessments, penetration testing, and a collection of CompTIA courses as well.

The site includes forums, practice labs, educational resources, and even a job board. Whether you’re just starting to consider a cybersecurity career, or you’re already in the middle of one, this site is a good one to bookmark.

6. Exploit Database

Whether you’re a white hat or a black hat hacker, the Exploit Database is an important tool in any hacker’s toolbelt.

It’s frequently updated with the latest exploits affecting applications, web services, and more. If you’re looking to learn more about how past hacks worked and were patched, the Papers section of the site is for you.

This area includes downloads of magazines that cover many of the biggest exploits to ever hit the world in the past decade.

Learning How to Be a Hacker

More industries continue to gravitate toward a cloud based approach. The world keeps moving more of its critical data to the internet. This means the world of hacking and counter-hacking is only going to grow.

Cybersecurity is a booming field, and a good one to get into if you’re looking for a lucrative, future-proof career.

If you’re interested in the history of hacking, our list of the world’s most famous hackers and what happened to them is a fascinating read. The lesson to learn is simple. Black hat hacking may sometimes pay more, but white hat hacking ensures that you’ll stay out of trouble.

Read the full article: The 6 Best Websites to Learn How to Hack Like a Pro

Read Full Article

9 Essential Photography Gear Items Every Camera Newbie Should Own

12 Apple HomePod Features That Will Make You Want One

Apple’s HomePod smart speaker sure sounds good, but is it worth the $349 asking price? Should you wait for the company to release a cheaper version, or hold off buying altogether?

There’s no lack of great-sounding wireless speakers on the market, and most of them cost significantly less than the HomePod. But the HomePod is the only smart speaker that comes with a few of Apple’s signature tricks up its sleeve.

Today we’ll take a look at the feature list to help you make a better informed purchase.

1. Flawless Apple Music Support

If you’re an Apple Music user, there’s no better smart speaker on the market. HomePod comes with built-in support for Apple Music. That means you don’t even need to use your iPhone to control the speaker—you can simply play songs from the service with a voice command using Siri.

With a simple “Hey Siri” you can search for a song, artist, or playlist by name. As of iOS 12, you can now search Apple Music by lyric too. You can also directly control Apple Music on the HomePod using your iPhone or iPad, or output to HomePod via the Apple Music for Android app.

Siri also allows you to add currently playing songs to playlists and your iCloud Music Library. You can start radio stations based on songs or artists too. And it’s easy to train Siri by saying “I like this” or “I don’t like this” to improve recommendations across all devices.

2. Play Any Audio From iOS, Mac, or iTunes

If you prefer to listen to music via Spotify, your own personal iTunes collection, or another app entirely, you can. But it won’t work flawlessly like Apple Music since the only streaming service built into the HomePod is Apple Music.

Select HomePod as an output on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or in iTunes for Mac and Windows to transmit audio. You can output system audio from a Mac, play chiptunes from your smartphone, or use multiple HomePods to enjoy your iTunes collection in more than one room.

Unfortunately, HomePod doesn’t function as a regular Bluetooth speaker. That means you can’t pair it with an Android smartphone or Windows PC.

3. HomePod Supports Apple’s Podcasts Catalog

Listening to podcasts on your HomePod can easily become part of your daily routine. Here are some of the perfect shows for every part of your day.https://t.co/CcJE4JB9bb pic.twitter.com/IUG80Y7Xg3

— Apple Podcasts (@ApplePodcasts) March 25, 2018

You can play any podcast from Apple’s Podcasts directory without the need for any subscriptions. Simply tell Siri what you’d like to listen to, and enjoy. Since podcasts really found their footing during the era of the iPod and iTunes, Apple’s directory is enormous and offers a huge range of shows to choose from.

You can use the following modifiers to find exactly what you’re looking for:

• “Hey Siri, play the newest episode of [podcast].”
• “Hey Siri, play the first episode of [podcast].”
• “Hey Siri, subscribe to this podcast.”
• “Hey Siri, play my new podcasts.”

4. Play Beats One for Free

Even if you’re not an Apple Music subscriber, you still get access to Apple’s only free radio station, Beats 1. Just tell Siri to start playing Beats 1 and enjoy the curated channel whenever you like. It’s a paltry offering, but it’s better than nothing.

5. Send and Read Your Messages

Since HomePod syncs to a single Apple ID via an iOS device, you can use your voice and Siri to send and read messages via the smart speaker. It works just how it does on iOS—tell Siri who you want to send a message to and what it says.

You can also ask Siri to read your messages, though be aware that everyone will be able to do the same if you leave Personal Requests on and disable Require Authentication under HomePod settings.

Try the following commands:

• “Hey Siri, send a message to my wife.”
• “Hey Siri, read that last message.”
• “Hey Siri, read my messages.”

6. Place and Answer Calls

As of iOS 12, you can now use your HomePod to place and answer calls to contacts via your iPhone. You’ll need your iOS device powered on and connected to the same Wi-Fi network for this to work. You can place regular phone calls, FaceTime and group FaceTime calls, and even listen to voicemail messages.

Try the following commands:

• “Hey Siri, call my wife.”
• “Hey Siri, answer the phone” (when a call is incoming).
• “Hey Siri, check my voicemail.”
• “Hey Siri, who just called?”

You can also transfer a call to your HomePod from your iPhone. During a call, tap on the audio button and select HomePod from the list of outputs. Wait a second and you should be able to continue your call on the speaker.

7. Ask Siri Just About Anything

Siri functions similarly on the HomePod as on any other iOS device, give or take a few limitations. This includes all manner of music-based trivia, like “What song is this?” and “When was this released?” to “Play the latest Grammy nominees” and “Who plays drums for Iron Maiden?”

Siri can also turn up or down the volume (“Hey Siri, turn it up”) or pause your currently playing audio. You can ask for local knowledge like “Find a nearby garage” or “I’m hungry” and get news and sports headlines with “What’s the news?” and “Who’s top of the Premier League?”.

Siri can also answer questions about the weather, perform basic math, convert currency and units of measurement, create reminders, and spell words for you. If in doubt, ask Siri!

8. Control Your HomeKit Devices

If you have smart home appliances, connected lighting, and other HomeKit gadgets, HomePod can function as a smart home hub. Since the microphone on a HomePod is generally a lot better at hearing you than the one on your iPhone, it makes a lot of sense to use HomePod for this purpose.

It functions exactly the same way it does on your iPhone. Simply ask Siri to “turn off the lights” or “set the temperature to seventy degrees” and your will shall be done. If you take the time to set up rooms in the iOS Home app, you can tell Siri to “turn off the living room lights” too.

You can also create Scenes in this app to automate several devices at once, then trigger them using your HomePod.

9. Set Multiple (Cooking) Timers

I have a single HomePod in the kitchen. It’s the room where I spend the most time, and where I find the HomePod most useful. By far the most-used function on my HomePod is its ability to set timers when cooking. As of iOS 12, you can now set multiple timers.

Simply ask Siri to “set a timer for 45 seconds” or half an hour, several hours, or however long you like. At any point you can ask “Hey Siri, how’s the timer?” or even tell the assistant to repeat the timer when you’re done.

You can also convert measurements on the fly, listen to music or podcasts while you cook, answer the phone or send messages while your hands are covered in flour—there’s no better room in which to place to your HomePod.

10. Translate Anything on the Fly

Another Siri trick that could come in handy when you least expect it is language translation. You can ask your HomePod to translate text from English to Mandarin, Spanish, German, Italian and French. Apple plans to add more languages in future updates.

11. Use HomePod as a Speaker for Apple TV Content

If you’re going for a HomePod in your living room, why not use Siri as a speaker for your TV? This only works with the Apple TV, but the devices handle the slight delay introduced by Bluetooth so that the picture and audio match up perfectly.

You can do this two ways. Head to Settings > Video and Audio on your Apple TV and select Audio Output where you can specify your HomePod. Or hold the Play/Pause button on your Apple TV remote to bring up the audio menu and select your HomePod. It’s a great feature to have if you’re using Apple Music to play music videos and your TV speakers just aren’t cutting it.

12. Trigger Siri Shortcuts With HomePod

A few years ago Apple acquired Workflow, an app that facilitated automating certain tasks on iOS. As part of iOS 12 it relaunched as Shortcuts, providing the same functionality with one key improvement: custom Siri commands.

If you’ve taken the time to set up Shortcuts in iOS 12, you can trigger these shortcuts using Siri on your HomePod. Just make sure the HomePod is linked to the same Apple ID!

And the Apple HomePod Sounds Great!

This is not so much a feature, but definitely a selling point. If you’re using Apple Music, HomePod uses custom equalizer settings for each song. When you pick the HomePod up and set it down again, it automatically tunes itself to the room you’re in. It’s truly impressive that such high-quality audio can come from something so small.

The HomePod’s sound is powerful, with rich bass and clean mid-tones, making it perfect for a range of genres. Even if Siri integration leaves you unimpressed, the HomePod delivers excellent sound quality for the admittedly steep price tag.

Check our full HomePod review for further thoughts.

Read the full article: 12 Apple HomePod Features That Will Make You Want One

Read Full Article

The 8 Best Online Shopping Sites for Cheap Electronics

If you’re prepared to shop around, you can almost always save money on whatever you want to purchase.

It’s no different with electronics. If you want to find cheap tech, you should check out these eight sites.

1. TechBargains

Sometimes, it’s hard to know whether you’re truly getting a good deal on something. There are just too many sites to check; you’ll never know if you missed a lower price.

If you’re looking for the best deals on electronics, TechBargains is the answer. It scours hundreds of stores, discount outlets, and third-party retailers to offer you some of the cheapest deals you’ll find.

The computing section is extensive. The site offers laptops, desktops, printers, routers, and more. You will also find wearables, smart home gear, gaming consoles, and audio devices.

Away from tech, the company does offer a few other smaller categories such as home and garden, but the deals aren’t as eye-catching.

For even better deals, sign up to the TechBargains’ newsletter.

2. Slickdeals

Slickdeals is a community-driven site. Although the site’s homepage looks like any other online shop, all the deals you see have been submitted by members. To ensure quality, the rest of the community votes on the deals. Slickdeals also employs editors who curate specific lists of deals.

Furthermore, to safeguard your security when shopping, Slickdeals will only show offers from sellers who have received positive feedback from previous buyers.

The site’s electronics products cover everything from video games and TVs to cameras and smartphones. Like TechBargains, there are also small sections dedicated to non-tech items such as clothes and cars.

You’ll see deals from several well-known retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Skyscanner, and Newegg.

3. Newegg

You can’t write a list of the best sites for cheap electronics without discussing Newegg. The company has been in business for almost two decades. In that time, it has grown to become one of the web’s top online shopping sites for saving money in any category.

Its original focus was on computer hardware, but the site soon expanded into software and other electronics. Today, you can also buy power tools, sports equipment, and fashion items.

Despite Newegg’s expansion, it remains one of the best places to find cheap networking devices, computer components, and tech solutions for an office or workspace.

Much like Amazon, Newegg sells products directly but also allows third-party sellers to distribute their wares via the marketplace. Newegg only protects purchases made in the marketplace up to a value of $1,000, so it might not be the place to make a large, big-ticket purchase.

Newegg also offers a healthy dose of refurbished, opened, and discontinued items. They are available at even more significant discounts.

4. Micro Center

Micro Center is the first cheap electronics website on the list stuck to its real purpose—it only offers electronic items, nothing else. Of course, it also has physical stores around the United States.

There are five broad categories on the site: Computers, Computer Parts, Networking, Software and Gaming, and Accessories. Each is packed with deals.

Like Newegg, you can also use Micro Center to pick up great deals on refurbished devices and open box products. Almost every item on the site has a discount.

Overnight shipping is available in the contiguous United States. Micro Center does not ship internationally.

Note: You can save a lot of money by purchasing a refurbished iPhone.

5. Swappa

Have you ever considered second-tech? If you’re working on a tight budget, you can find big-ticket items like TVs, gaming consoles, and high-end smartphones for a lot less money if you’re prepared to accept used devices.

Swappa is home to some of the best second-hand deals. Like Micro Center, the site is exclusively focused on tech.

You buy and sell directly with other users, cutting out the middleman. To ensure broken items aren’t sold, Swappa has a robust listing approval process in place.

Some of the deals on Swappa are unrivaled by the other sites on this list. You can pick up a Google Pixel 2 for less than $350, an Xbox One S for $200, and a 15-inch MacBook Pro for $450. Even used computer parts are very cheap.

6. Bang Good

Bang Good is a Chinese site that ships to the United States. It offers wholesale prices for single-item purchases.

Bang Good isn’t a place where you’re going to find branded products (though you will sometimes see deals on well-known Chinese brands like Xiaomi).

Instead, it’s a place to buy cheap earphones, speakers, phone accessories, 3D printer parts, security systems, and smart robots where the brand is arguably less important.

Bang Good’s big drawback is the shipping time. You can expect it to take at least one month between hitting the order button and seeing a parcel on your doorstep.

Oh, and don’t worry, the entire site is in English!

Note: Other popular Chinese sites for cheap electronics include AliExpress, GearBest, and NewFrog. AliExpress even offers buyer protection.

7. TigerDirect

Our next suggestion, TigerDirect, is back in the United States. TigerDirect only sells electronics and, unlike Bang Good (and other Chinese sites), all the items for sale are branded.

The company divides its products between 10 main categories. They are Computers, Monitors, Surveillance, Networking, Printers, Servers, Software, Data Storage, Power Management, and CPUs and memory.

TigerDirect ships to the US and Canada.

8. B&H

Our final recommendation is B&H. Although the company does have a storefront in New York, these days it has morphed into a primarily online retailer.

B&H’s strong suit is audio and video gear. It’s what the physical store originally sold when it opened its doors back in 1973. Though it also sells computers and other home tech equipment.

So, if you’re looking for great deals on professional audio and video devices, camcorders, lighting, or camera accessories, B&H should be one of your first ports of call.

The site also has a “Used” section. You can find everything from second-hand camera lenses to darkroom apparatus.

Make Sure You Get the Best Deals Online

Knowing which online shopping sites offer cheap electronics is only one of the ways you can save money when buying things on the internet. Also, keep in mind these international shopping sites which offer free shipping when you are looking for stuff not available in your own country.

Read the full article: The 8 Best Online Shopping Sites for Cheap Electronics

Read Full Article